Demolition started at 187-199 West End Lane, and the strip of shops was knocked down on Saturday morning. The shops themselves will become a marketing suite for the next two years, while the site overall is becoming, as most of you know, a large residential development with some public space and some retail. The best summary article is here, though scrolling through these pages will give you the full story.

The remains of Café Bon via @cyberdonkey

A planning application also went in for the first of what may well be many material changes to the 187-199 development. This one seems to flatten the facade of the buildings, more details next week.

The Jubilee Line is going to close for more weekends. You can read the basic story from the BBC  or the really detailed story. Eithe way it’s annoying.

A German teenager pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Douglas Hutchison aka Professor Whitestick in West Hampstead last year. He will be sentenced later this month, and is also wanted in Germany in connection with another murder.

There was a robbery on Thursday night at Sainsbury’s on West End Lane (perhaps coincidentally, there was one at the Salusbury Road branch in Queens Park on Tuesday too).

A proposed 138-room student development by the O2 centre has run into a major problem.

There were several reports of people rifling through rubbish bags “in a suspicious manner”. A reminder to shred anything that could be used for identity theft.

If St James’s Church is going to take over the post office, it needs £50,000 from Camden council in Section 106 money. An investigation by the Ham & High suggests the council has a S.106 surplus in excess of £20 million.

On May 23rd an eminent geologist will be talking about the impact of basement excavations on groundwater (in Pond Street).

The deadline to design a logo for the local development forum has been extended to May 13th.

The Standard announced what was common knowledge locally – Fiona Millar won’t stand as Labour’s Hampstead & Kilburn candidate

Kilburn Grange celebrated it’s 100th anniversary and here’s how it looked in 1925.

From July 2011 to March 2013, borrowers ran up unpaid library fines at West Hampstead of £3,950.43.

Blue Daisy announced the expected closure of its West End Lane store.

The Look of Love is @NxNW6’s Film of the Week (and was Sunday night’s NW6 Film Club screening). Full local listings here.

Google Street View has gone inside (!) the Black Lion on Kilburn High Road.

Godzilla marched on Hampstead on Saturday afternoon. It was art y’know.

Social, the clothing store on West End Lane, is on Twitter @SocialUpLondon.

Tuesday was the 4th anniversary of the @WHampstead twitter account (and the Dutch queen abdicated and it was someone’s birthday, but the main event was #whampday).

Coming up
May
7th (&14th) CV & job seekers skills training workshop at West Hampstead Womens Centre 020 7328 7389 for details
14th: Swiss Cottage ward Safer Neighbourhoods meeting 7pm Crossfield Centre
22nd: Swiss Cottage ward Area Action Group 7pm Crossfield Centre
30th: WEL Books event with me talking to Cities Are Good For You author Leo Hollis

Tweet of the Week
Some strong contenders this week, but Jen wins the accolade

There’s man on Finchley Rd honking his horn at 4 cars in front to move. The 4 cars are parked. The man is still honking. 2 mins have past.
— Jen (@MissiMartinez) May 3, 2013